Bamboo craft:One obvious reason the tradedeficit is widening and economy is increasingly becoming rupee driven is because Bhutan imports even goods as basic as a toothpick, which could be produced easily from its rich forest resources through tshazo (bamboo craft) practising communities.

Craft:Tshazo (bamboo craft), one of the chief sources of income for communities in Bjoka in Zhemgang, Jangbi in Trongsa and Pasaphu of Kangpar in Trashigang, is slowly disappearing because of lack of raw materials.

It is raining. The mud track that winds through the deep thickets below Thimphu Gate a little away south from Babesa is all slushy and slippery. I am not at all in best of dress for the job, but I must grab the devil lording thereabout by the neck this day and show him some terror that I am capable of.

Lifestyle:The rain has stopped.It is almost noon.Sixty-year-old Sonam Tobgay quietly sits at the balcony of his old traditional house in Dewung village in Khaling, Trashigang.His rather peculiarly large head is all grey.His face is dark and wrinkled.

RTC:Royal Thimphu College (RTC), Ngabiphu, Thimphu. It is 9.40 am; Thursday. The day is grey, and the sky pregnant with rain. But it is warm and pleasant. Thick verdure surrounds the campus filled with myriad flowers. It is almost heaven.

Birthday:Just after midnight, at 12:53 am, two healthy baby girls were born with a cry at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck national referral hospital. What makes the twins special is that they were born on the same day Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck was born.